Has anyone had experience with a horse continually stocking up after a bought of cellulitis? My horse had some sort of injury in his stall on March 15 (very long story); vet couldn’t find anything in leg so he thought it was cellulitis. He is fine when he is moving around. However after an extended night in his stall (18 hrs) due to farrier appointment, he again had fluid in his ankle. I have 3 vet bills on this injury already, he has been sound all along, but I would like to stop this if I could. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Wrapping? I tried the equiflex sleeves when my horse as stocking up and liked them as an alternative to wrapping with traditional wraps.
Was he medicated and or otherwise treated for the cellulitis? [cold hosing, wrapping, hand walking]
This may sound totally crazy, but does he have salt block in his stall and is he eating it, out of boredom?
I have a 4 yo who started stocking up behind, badly. I just got her; this happened during the second week I had her.
No heat, no lameness. Took her temperature daily, no temp.
I scrubbed her legs, in case it was scratches. Wrapped her legs. She stayed stocked up. The swelling would go down a bit with work, but still some edema, even after I rode her.
I had put a salt block in her stall, and it looked like she’d been eating it, so I took it out of her stall. Next day swelling was gone and it’s not returned.
I’m not certain that it’s the cause of her stocking up. I haven’t put the salt block back in, but I may try it, to see if the swelling comes back.
Thanks for the replies! Yes, I have done sweat wraps and cold hosing, NSAIDs, Naquasone, and antibiotics. No scratches, cuts, etc. were ever found. It is really a mystery as to what happened. He does not have a salt block. I haven’t tried equiflex sleeves, maybe I will try to find some at Rolex! But I just don’t understand why it keeps coming back; he never ever stocked up before, even when he did 4 weeks of stall rest!
I believe filling/stocking up can be a lingering or permanent effect of cellulitis/lymphangitis. Something like the tissues get stretched out from the original infection and never rebound to their original state. Therefore, they a prone to filling up with fluid at an provocation.
If it was a hind leg, I’d suspect lymphangitis, which doesn’t seem to usually be caused by an injury.
theresak is right on, when my horse had cellulitis his leg recovered almost 100% after the first bout, but the subsequent bouts of it left me with what we called his new ‘normal’.
And in terms of wrapping, I meant standing wraps… as in when you know there might be an extended time in stall, he gets wrapped in standing wraps.
Stocking up is common after cellulitis as the tissue swells quite a bit during the episode, and rarely retains the original tightness afterwards. You may not notice it when the horse is moving around but after a night in a stall it is no surprise he is stocking up. I would wrap the horse whenever he is in the stall for an extended amount of time (more than an hour or two).
[QUOTE=Angela Freda;8121711]
theresak is right on, when my horse had cellulitis his leg recovered almost 100% after the first bout, but the subsequent bouts of it left me with what we called his new ‘normal’.
And in terms of wrapping, I meant standing wraps… as in when you know there might be an extended time in stall, he gets wrapped in standing wraps.[/QUOTE]
Yep. IME after even just one bout of cellulitis, the leg is never as tight especially after standing around.
I was afraid of that. 
My other horse had cellulitis in his hind leg; his ankle never returned to normal. I was hoping that was just a fluke…
My mare stocks up on both hinds when it’s hot out and they just stand around all day. I find MSM keeps it from happening. I don’t know if it would help for stocking up after cellulitis, but it would be cheap to try
I second the suggestion of standing wraps each time the horse has to be stalled for extended periods.
It may be a silly question, but is pasture board an option? If stalling is the issue, maybe simply removing the stall will be the answer.
Ditto to what everyone said above. My horse has had cellulitis in all four legs multiple times and lymphangitis in his left hind, and he chronically stocks up (if he is in a stall overnight his legs are tree trunks in the morning). If the leg isn’t hot, if the horse doesn’t flinch when you firmly touch the leg (and if the swelling is squishy as opposed to firm), if the swelling goes down with movement, and if there’s no open skin that looks like home sweet home for bacteria, then the vet is not needed (it’s just standard stocking up). And yes, that is my mental checklist when I look at my horse’s legs every day 
Thanks everyone! Yes, he is usually out in a field but I bring him in at night when the weather is rough. His legs look fine as long as he is moving around. It is not a huge deal as he is pretty much just a pleasure horse but I just hate coming to the barn and seeing anything out of sorts on my horses! Guess I will adjust (sigh…)
Ditto to what newhorsemommy said; MSM daily really helps my mare to not stock up, but its not related to cellulitis. But may be worth a try since MSM is cheap. My mare gets 15,000 mg daily.
The ancient pony stocked up if kept in for more than overnight. I just used standing wraps to keep him comfortable.
